On The Fly…

0

The recovery continues, according to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. GAMA’s third quarter surveyof industry activity shows across-the-board increases in sales and revenue. Industry billings were up 15.9 percent to $7.8 billion for the first nine months of 2004, while total units rose 7.7 percent to 1,928…

Want to buy a nuclear bomber? Brian Bateson is doing a little housecleaning around Blackpool Airport and something that has to go is a Cold War-era Vulcan bomber. The hulking delta-wing aircraft is being offered on Ebay with an upset price of about $11,000 USD, which has already been met…

The airplane that made throwing up a badge of honor has issued its last airsickness bag. NASA’s famed Vomit Comet, a KC-135 that used to, among many other things, give astronauts a taste of weightlessness, made its last flight on Friday. It will be stripped and placed in storage in the desert. It will be replaced by an aircraft of the same vintage, a C-9, which is the military version of the DC-9…

The British press is having fun with a British Airways A-320, accusing the airline, tongue in cheek, of taking sides in the U.S. election. Aircraft registrations in Britain begin with G followed by four letters, with this particular one spelling out G-BUSH. The airline has also added the slogan “Backing the Bid” to its livery but that’s a reference to London’s bid for the 2012 Olympics and not a comment on U.S. politics, say airline spokesmen…

A U.S. Air Force pilot is back in the left seat six years after losing most of his left leg in a motorcycle accident. Lt. Col. Andrew Lourake is the first above-the-knee amputee pilot in the Air Force and he now commands Air Force Two. Lourake’s prosthetic leg is loaded with technical wizardry that make it work like the original equipment…

As if pilots on the eastern seaboard don’t have enough to watch out for, it rained some space junk over New Jersey on Saturday. An amateur videographer caught the fireball as it reentered the atmosphere near Hamilton , N.J….

The last Boeing 757 rolled off the line in Renton, Wash., last Thursday. Shanghai Airlines will get number 1050 in April. The 757 is being discontinued as the 737 gets bigger and bigger and development of the 7E7 kicks into high gear…

LEAVE A REPLY